Sunday, April 17, 2011

Mo Physics

The Baseball Tonight gang on the ESPN pre-game did a break-down with 8 by 10 full color glossies and video of Mariano Rivera's pitches and arm angles and how the spin affects the air pressure, which determines where and when it breaks. Also that it's hard to tell which pitch he's throwing because his arm angle has less than a 3-degree variation and it's too late to swing by the time the batter figures it out. I can't find the presentation online, but this Yankee blog-meister has most of it right here. Fascinating to see where the magic lies. (The commentators said they showed the piece to Mariano before the game and he thought it was pretty much gibberish. Said he just picks up the ball and throws it. Hahahahahahaha!)